7/12/03 Eatern Cruise - A Disney Memory

[tigger53]

My daughter age 20, son age 18 and I are big Disney fans and have just taken our third 7 day cruise, we did 2 four day cruises also over the years and have enjoyed every minute of them. We began this cruise by staying at the Port Orleans, Riverside, our favorite resort, we've stayed at others but we like coming back to this one more, we did 2 nights, then we did 2 nights at the Disney Vero Beach resort, it was nice there but we missed all the action of going to the parks. When we were at the Riverside my son took The Keys To The Kingdom tour, my daughter and I opted not to go because we like to be oohhed and awed by all magic of whats going on and don't want to know how and why, my son loved learning some of the hidden tricks of the trade. After our stay at Vero was over we headed for Port C. on sat. The 12th all set for our adventure on the Disney Magic, we arrived so early that some of the passengers from the previous cruise were still hanging around waiting for rides, I couldn't help but think to myself looking at all the tired faces that this would be us next week, I quickly lost that thought and came back to the here and now. I get so excited going up the escalator to the check in area, being a single parent its kind of hard to come up with the money for these trips but my kids are wonderful, we all save together, they work summer jobs, save what they can during the school year, I cut a few corners, and the end result is going up the escalator to embark on a truly magical vacation together and having a wonderful time, so when I reach the top of the stairs I say happily, WE Made It. After we checked in we took our place in line, hard to believe we were the first to arrive and ended up fourth in line, too much time on those escalator stairs I guess. Once on board we headed right for Parrot Cay, my favorite restaurant, then off to make res. for Palo's, this was the first year for my son not to be able to go to common grounds since he was 18 and I worried if he would miss hanging out there, my worries were a waste of time, he loved being able to outlast my daughter and me at the nightclubs, he stayed till the very end, we went to bed dead dog tired, then we headed for the spa to sign up for the Rain Forrest pass, this is the best place to go to relax, they have these tiled chairs that are slightly heated, once you experience the saunas and the fragrant showers and just sit down to soak it all in you'll find its not uncommon to doze off. I love going there after being in the sun all day or after dinner, most of the time its not crowded at all. The first day out, come to think of it the second day also it was very windy up on deck, when we went on the eastern cruise two years ago it was pretty windy too, someone told me the eastern cruise is always windy while heading to St. Maartins, luckily on the way back its not. When we reached St. Maartins we were signed up for the Golden Eagle catamaran, I highly recommend this tour. The captain of the boat took us to a beautiful cove with crystal clear water, blue skies, white sand beaches, sounds like a brochure doesn't it? My daughter and I used the noodles that they provided and just floated around relaxing while others on board did snorkeling or sat on the beach. The people on this excursion do everything to make it a fun time, especially in the drink department, this trip began around 8:30am and here we are floating around, not a worry in sight and out comes this guy with a floating cooler full of rum punch and assorted ice cold beers urging us to indulge, I check my watch, I'm sure its 5pm some where in the world and heck, this is vacation, so I indulge happily, good thing I did because I found out later from the captain that a 5 foot barracuda swam between me and my daughter, I must have been so happy I didn't notice. When we got back on board the crew had made us some sandwiches and continued to freely pass out more rum punch and beer, followed by champagne, I must say going over to the cove we were a tad somber but going back we were the liveliest group afloat, singing and dancing and having a great time. When we got back to the ship we got cleaned up and headed into town for some shopping where we found some cheap gifts to take back home, my daughter found some almost free dresses and the liquor was almost free, don't forget we were just off the floating bar excursion so everything seemed almost free, but seriously St. Maartins is a great place to shop and get bargains, much better than St. Thomas. The next day we took the St. John Island tour. On the boat ride over it began to pour rain like crazy but as we reached the island it let up. We toured around the island on an open-air bus and our driver was very informative. The scenery was breathtaking, green trees, blue ocean viewed from high up on a mountain top, exotic flowers everywhere, cows crossing the road, these cows run freely like dogs on most of the island, interesting huh, and we were amazed that there wasn’t accidents as the locals drive rather fast around windy roads and up the mountain side and on the opposite side of the road, we had another great day. When we got back to the ship we had dinner in Palo’s, this was my son’s first experience there and my daughter and I could tell he would have liked eating at Pluto’s instead, he doesn’t like to get dressed up but he enjoyed himself anyway. Castaway Cay day started out nice, sunny hotter than you know where and then we were hit by some impressive thunder and lightning which scared the daylights out of me and my daughter as we stood huddled by the bar waiting for the tram to come over to the adult side to pick us up, my son on the other hand enjoyed the whole thing. Once we were safely back on board we went to the Rain Forrest to relax on those nice warm chairs and everyone else on board had the same idea but we outlasted them and got to have the place all to ourselves. Sadly our trip was coming to an end, I hate leaving, it all goes too fast, but with my trusty pen in hand I always begin calculating right away to see if somehow we can come again, as of now we are booked to go on the eastern cruise next July, now all we need to do is save up a storm, unfortunately this will be our last cruise as a family for quite awhile as my daughter is moving away and my son will be off to college and I’ll be trying to handle the “empty nest” syndrome, so by hook or crook we better come up with this money and go out in style.